Understanding Comics

This was an interesting read for me.  Having not read too many comics as a kid, it was interesting for me to read theories on what comics mean and their place in society.  I also like how he was able to explain in depth the creation of comics using the comic style.  The Author quite clearly used his own personal opinions of which are probably debatable amongst people that have a much greater understanding of the medium than myself.  Though it was at times a little dry, It was still nice learning material for me.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

The Adventures of Prince Achmed is an interesting silent film that is composed of paper cut outs and uses stop motion animation. I think the reason why I was so intrigued with the film was due to the interesting lighting and how remarkably well the stories were conveyed with out the use of dialogue.  The color in conjunction with the beautiful score make for an entertaining and effective piece.

In class activity

Panel 1: The woman begins some sor tof strange ritual
Panel 2: A giant Chicken is summoned along the bedside of a woman
Panel 3: The woman from the first panel undresses as another strange creature is summoned
Panel 4: The two creatures continue the strange ritual around the two women
Panel 5: The woman has been sacrificed as she is bleeding under the bed
Panel 6: Two of the women seem to be under the control of the giant chicken and other strange creature
Panel 7: The two women are sitting at the table conversing along witht he giant chicken.

The Arrival

The Arrival was one of the most interesting stories and forms of storytelling I have ever encountered.  Granted I was never a big comic reader as a child but I still enjoyed the very few that I did read.

The Arrival is a story about one man's journey to another country.  It is told mainly through the use of pictures, there are very few words used in this story.  Being the history nerd that I am, I was fascinated by the early 1900's photographic theme that the book is based on.  It almost felt like I was looking through through someone's time capsule or an old family photo album.  The story also contains interesting and fantastic creatures that people had as pets.